Character Voice
Fan art by Ambra, based on the beasts in The Soulstone Chronicles, a very large fairy tale. With no sign of fairies so far. The small type, I mean.
A member of my writing circle on G+ mentioned authors who effectively write in a character’s voice, and this triggered in me a list (Darn but I hate reading lists on the web.) of all the steps (Steps! Haaargh! Steps too!) that resulted in any ability I may have to write in a character voice. They are (Here it comes. Yep. List-steps.):
Read out loud to an audience, this includes kids. It especially includes kids, small ones at least, because then you can play at being the characters you read.
Act. If you’re also an aficionado of lying, this helps. (And I admit right now I looked up the spelling of affici…whatever. No, I never lie. Ever. Nope. Don’t have the gene.)
Be a Dungeon Master, at least the old style version played twenty years ago. I don’t know what they do today. But when you’re everyone except your players’ characters, and you’re trying to kill them, it’s a win win… No, I am not a psychopath. You wanna be an ally, a bit part, an idiot or evil incarnate, the Dungeon Master can. (Oh, damn. Song smashed into my head! Who can eat an rainbow! Belch it out in goo! The Dungeon Master can! Okay, I’ll stop.) RPing (role playing) is another way to go about having the same skill training.
Just read good books. You’ll notice the stories you really enjoy have characters that play out in your head like they’re real. When you see that, pay attention. Analyse how the author managed it. It could be a conversational style responsible, or consistent action on the part of the character, or even key emotional facts inserted where necessary, or all of this.
And last, beware of character inconsistencies as you write them. Unless your character is supposed to be inconsistent, you want to rein them in if they run amuck doing as they please without regard to, well, going too far. Characters can take over the story like they’re alive, but does that mean you let them turn your plot into a series of false statements? I’m reminded of a writer who stated in her story, over and over, how nice her male character was, but he was an ass! He was a jerk! His actions and his conversation did not match the statements in between. And of course that dropped me out of wanting to read the story. You NEVER want to make your reader drop out of wanting to read the story. If you can help it.
And that’s pretty much it, from earliest training to latest experience. So go! Charge into a crowd of children with a book of bloody fairy tales and scare the living bejeezus out of… Well, no, don’t do that. At least not the charge… Read to your dog. Okay?
